Trust Exercise
by Xekstrin
Summary: The kids have proven they can work together, when forced by chance. Now it's time to test something entirely different— trust. Trust that the person beside you is willing to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. [A mildly Ruby/Weiss drabble about Ruby protecting Weiss]


**A/N:** Assume this happened directly after _Players and Pieces_. I wrote this before that episode aired, though, hence the mildly OOC matter of Weiss being the one to give orders.

**OoOoOo**

They lined up in pairs, some of them still tending to open wounds or picking bits of foliage out of their hair and clothing. Sweat-stained and rank, they nevertheless glowed with pride as they stood next to their newfound partners, awaiting further instruction from Ozpin. A few of them glanced at Beacon's spires in the distance, obviously itching to return to safety, but Weiss and Ruby were both busy trying to figure out what their next task would be.

"Look at the marks on the ground," Ruby hiss-whispered, nudging Weiss with her elbow and pointing at the bright red Xs each team had assembled by. Various scorch marks and patches of dirt where grass had refused to grow again littered each space. "Are we gonna spar now?"

"Could be practice for protection details," her partner mused out loud. "A lot of people pay Hunters to be bodyguards as well as swords-for-hire." Smoothing out her bangs, fingers picking and twisting at the bits of debris that had stuck there, Weiss fussed over herself, sniffing loudly. "Of course, I'll never stoop to such degrading work. Huntresses aren't bred to be watchdogs."

"Good for you, Schnee," a raised voice said from down the line. Ruby recognized Yang's drawling, insulting tone at once and felt the heat rise to her face. "But some of us don't have momma and daddy to run back to when we run out of cash!"

A ripple of laughter broke some of the tense, exhausted silence of those who had made it out of the forest intact. Quite a few students _hadn't_ made it— though to Ruby's relief, she saw some older people that could only be instructors carrying them out to safety on more than one occasion. All Ozpin's talk about "not interfering" had more to do with psyching them out than weeding out Beacon's population of older teens. Swallowing a lump in her throat, Ruby tried to flash Weiss a nervous, apologetic smile for her sister's words, but Weiss was staring solidly ahead. If she had heard the comment, she wasn't reacting to it.

Whirring engines and the stench of ozone exhaust belching out of steel vents marked Ozpin's arrival on a personal sized helistage, Glynda an ever present shadow lurking behind. Easing himself off onto the ground, his cane _tmped_ on the grass with his uneven gait. "Hello," he said, voice raised and cheerful, if notably exhausted. Dark circles line his eyes, and he squinted at them from behind his glasses. "It seems we've all paired up nicely. Your relics and performance will be evaluated overnight; as for the temple, good job clearing out this area. We were beginning to have trouble containing the Grimm population. Very good work."

He lifted his cane, reaching behind him to tap something off the stage. It fell to the ground and rolled over to Ruby's feet; the blood-crusted, severed head of a Beowulf. She twitched, but didn't scream. Morphing Crescent Rose into its scythe form faster than she could think, she batted it away, further into the forest.

"Very good work," he said again, voice lower. Ruby leaned forward, struggling to hear her headmaster. "Now, though I'm sure you're all eager to return home, I have one more trial for you. These will not be graded; consider them… something to measure yourself by, in the future."

That didn't sound fun. Instinctively looking for Yang, she saw her several yards down the line. Noticing Ruby's desperate stare, she gave her a wink and a thumbs up. It wasn't much, but it felt good to know Yang had her back anyway. Ozpin continued: "Whoever is leftmost, step onto these large red markers you no doubt have noticed by now."

Ruby stood to Weiss's left. In fact, she stood at the very leftmost part of the line. Bracing herself on her marker, she waited for further instruction, mind already running at full speed.

Ozpin waited for everyone to be in position, surveying them all with narrowed eyes. "Now, drop your weapons. All of you. For this assignment, you will need to be unarmed."

A chorus of whines and grumbles erupted at once. As far as Ruby could tell, the only ones who didn't complain were Blake and Pyrrha, further off towards her right. Even endlessly cheerful Yang scowled as she set down Ember Celica behind her and returned to the red marker. "You all have proven you can work together, when forced by chance. Now it's time to test something entirely different—" Ozpin limped from one end to the line to the other. "Trust. A difficult skill to hone, but not an altogether impossible one."

Weiss's lip twitched up a in sneer. "Excuse me? How can you propose to be able to teach something like that in a lecture?"

"Oh, it's not a lecture." He rounded on her. Not angrily, but he sought her out, finding her with her gaze turned down to the ground after her outburst, not wanting any more negative attention. "I'm going to hit you, Weiss Schnee. Very hard." He brandished his cane, smiling. "With a stick."

She eyed it warily.

"Or rather, first I will be aiming at your partner here," he said louder so that he addressed the whole line, lifting his cane up to tap Ruby's shoulder with the butt end. She slapped it aside with a mousy squeak. "Your job is to make sure that doesn't happen, by whatever means. Only, there's a twist." Returning to the first pair at the other end of the line, he tapped at each red mark he passed. "The partner being attacked must keep at least one foot on their mark at all times. The partner defending them can move more freely, though you must stay within a yard of your partner. No exceptions. It's up to you how to do this. The time limit is one minute, as marked here—" Standing behind him, Glynda held up her touch pad. A bright green 60 seconds glowed on the surface. "Now, _begin_!"

There was a _whack_ of something solid hitting flesh and a cry of pain. Panicking, Ruby turned to Weiss at once, not waiting to see what the other pairs would do. "We need a plan. Quick! How are we gonna do this?"

Waving one hand at her with the other pushing back her bangs in frustration, Weiss stared at the ground with wide eyes. "I'm thinking. Hush. Hush for two seconds."

"I don't wanna get beat with a stick, Weiss!"

"Ruby, _can it._"

Ozpin tested each pair one after the other, moving now to Blake and Yang. Yang had gone first, and Ruby kicked herself for not keeping an eye on her to see what she had done. At the very least she could see what Yang did to protect Blake, though.

Bracing herself, Yang stood between Ozpin and her partner, smiling like a threatened wolf. "Ready, sir?" she asked, a little hint of a taunt on her lips. Faster than light, his cane whipped out, striking Blake despite Yang's best efforts to deflect it. For her part, Blake was able to dodge a few of them on her own, always keeping a foot on her red mark. Ruby paid attention to the fact that it didn't necessarily have to be the same foot; she switched frequently from her left and right, whenever she could. That was good knowledge to have.

But would Ozpin be judging them harder because they were so far down the line? Would they be graded for creativity, or could she and Weiss just do their best to hop around whatever Ozpin threw at them?

"Your partner is getting hit, Yang," Ozpin noted, thwacking her again. He walked around them in a small circle, Yang doing her best to always keep herself between him and Blake. She kept her hands up as she would if she were still wielding Ember Celica blocking, chambering, and occasionally punching with her bare arms and fists. "This isn't a good start to your relationship together. You could—"

Yang waited for the right time, diving in the way of the blow and taking it herself. Over extended as he was, she was able to dart in past his guard, snapping one foot up in a front kick aimed straight at Ozpin's head. He leaped back, giving Yang a sharp rap on the shin for her efforts.

"It's very bold of you to attack the headmaster of your school," Ozpin said as she yelped, scooting back and hopping on one foot. A bright red welt began forming on her skin. "You and Blake work well together, though I fear you do little to keep each other in check. Work on your communication and you might stand more of a chance next time."

Why wasn't anyone using their aura? Scrutinizing each pair as close she could, Ruby could occasionally see the colorful splash of life that signified aura usage; but each time, Ozpin lashed right through their defenses.

Did he have some special technique to bypass aura?

She felt her heart sink like a stone.

Pyrrha and Jaune were up next; Weiss hadn't come up with a brilliant plan yet. Maybe she could run home if she started now. Trembling in place, Jaune stood with his feet too close together, not resembling any kind of ready stance Ruby had ever seen. If he didn't at least try to dodge, how much could Pyrrha really do to protect him? Ozpin struck out, and it might have been Ruby's imagination, but it felt a few centimeters slower than when he had gone after the other students.

"_Jaune_!"

The cane swung on empty air. Blinking a few times, Ozpin scanned the line for his two missing students, only to finally look up at the tree line where Pyrrha held Jaune in a fireman's carry, her face beet red. His feet waving, Jaune wind milled his arms around, trying to get free.

"That's against the rules," Ozpin said mildly. "Though I admire your devotion."

"I— I know, I just… Sorry…"

Climbing down with Jaune still over her shoulder, she set him on his mark and sheepishly stood just to his side, watching Ozpin for movement. This time, when Ozpin went for him, she stepped in, defending him with her vambraces. When she was too slow to catch Ozpin as he circled and struck again, his feet weightless and soundless on the ground, she shouted out— "Jaune, duck!" And again— "From the left! Switch feet, upper left! NO, YOUR OTHER LEFT—-" _Thwack_.

Between Pyrrha's defense and Jaune's intense desire to live another day, he got out mostly unscathed. A slow grin spread out on Ozpin's face when their time was up and Jaune was left with even less bruises than any other student. How well he would protect Pyrrha in turn was yet to be seen.

Mostly, she dodged almost everything Ozpin threw at her, and mostly, Jaune got in the way. Not neatly deflecting each blow the way Yang had, but letting himself get smacked by it in place of Pyrrah, they got through the task together, and high fived each other when Ozpin came sauntering down to Ruby and Weiss.

"Well, if the moron can do it, it can't be that hard," Weiss muttered. Shaking her head roughly and tapping Ruby on the shoulder just as she felt ready to bolt, she gave her a shake. "We're up next. I'm going to stand in front of you and dodge any attacks, try to mirror my movements, all right?"

Ruby nodded tersely. "All right."

Weiss stood in front of her with her arms out, feet spread and knees slightly bent. All her focus honed on Ozpin, body tense. Ruby mimicked her pose as best she could, shuffling in place as Ozpin circled them, looking for the right moment to strike. Then he did, his body a blur. Her partner twitched; Ruby quickly followed her lead. Feinting, Ozpin sought to get at Ruby another way, but she dodged it without Weiss to guide her this time. It worked well enough, Ruby got hit only once as the seconds ticked down. As their time began to run out, Ozpin tried for one last jab. Weiss snatched Ruby by her hood and yanked her to the ground, covering her with her body. Her foot somehow stayed on target, knee bent at an impossibly uncomfortable angle.

They looked at each other and laughed, hysterically, before Weiss realized what she was doing and shot up to her feet, hastily brushing the forest detritus from her dress.

It was Ruby's turn. She had planned to simply swap places with Weiss, but when their round came, Weiss couldn't keep up with her. They had exactly two seconds to realize in terror that Ruby was too fast, and Weiss didn't have any warning for the strikes that came raining down.

Weiss started getting hit.

What would Yang do? Racking her memory for the times her uncle had pitted her against Yang in training, Ruby tried to recall her earliest lessons in hand-to-hand combat. Crescent Rose wasn't here to swing around on, and her aura was crumbling under his strikes like loose soil. Putting her dukes up, she started mimicking Yang, reminding everyone who watched that there was a reason these two sisters had been accepted among the elite. But she didn't have vambraces like Pyrrha, and she didn't have Yang's talent for redirecting hits. As she started to tire, her forearms screaming from the abuse, she stopped deflecting blows and started taking them herself. Much like Jaune, she was ready to use herself as a shield for her partner— except Ozpin was being ten times more ferocious with her than anyone else.

"You aren't doing a good job." He tapped the cane on the ground, circling her, constantly circling her. When he found an opening, he lunged in, and each time his movements never become more clear. He was terrifyingly fast. "You're supposed to keep yourself alive as well. When you're pinned down by monsters and your employer is depending on you to survive, are you going to throw yourself on their claws and leave them to their fate?"

"No," Ruby said through grit teeth, arms out and ready to take another blow. Her forehead stung from an open cut, though she couldn't tell if it was from her ordeal in the forest or from one of the many hits Ozpin had dealt her. "It won't be like this. I'll have Crescent Rose."

"But you won't, Ruby." The time limit was up, but Ozpin didn't stop. "Your patron's legs are broken. They can't run. You are unarmed. Are you going to fall? Are you going to run away? You're dying, right now, Ruby!" Eyes wide, he raised the cane up; her eyes followed it, trusting its movements more than she trusted her ability to gauge his body language. Where he thrusted did not always match up to where his chest pointed, a skill reserved for only the best of swordsmen. "_Will. You. Run?"_

The cane moved in slow motion, the world becoming crisp and clear. All her panic drained away in that moment, only grim determination left in its place. "**I'D**!"

Lifting one hand, she felt the butt of it strike her palm, and grasped on for dear life. She pulled it out of his grasp, yanking backwards with all her might and falling onto her back. "**RATHER**!"

Her head hit the ground with too much force, stars erupting in front of her eyes. "**DIE**!"

She clutched the cane in a white-knuckled grip, hands shaking with adrenaline and fear. She looked up with triumph, blood to trickling down her face only to see Ozpin white as a sheet, exhausted and sweaty and trembling with the effort of standing straight.

Getting up to her feet though the world spun and quivered, she extended the cane back to him, all her classmates watching in silence. "Uh… sir," she said, for lack of anything else to say.

He took it. Leaned heavily on it.

"Thank you for answering my question, Ruby Rose," he said evenly, as though he had not just tried to bludgeon her to death in front of her classmates, and walked away. Glynda rushed to restore order after that, busy snapping commands here and there and getting everyone too busy to begin chattering about what they had just witnessed.

When Ruby turned around at last to check on her partner, she found Weiss staring at her as though she'd grown wings.


End file.
